$54 THE GROSS OF PEACE

were watching a world sinking into economic ruin,
national barriers which prevented all flow of trade,
millions of men out of work in all countries, with money
losing its purchasing power, with producers unable to sdB
the fruits of the earth to hungry populations, with deb&
crushing down upon the human drudge, creating an intoleiw
able heritage for posterity, without any control of these forces
of unreason, or any serious attempt to avert the downfall of
European culture

'The hands of the old men * said Alphonse Ghartier
"are weak on the reins of the fiery horses in this chariot race
towards a bottomless pit It is for youth to seize those rexas
and to check this stampede It is tune for us to assert our
leadership and to establish a new order in the \\orld I a&i
a Frenchman I see before me the hereditary enemies of my
race I am their hereditary enemy My father and fors
fathers have fought yours on many battlefields But it &
ancient history It is the history of humanity in the day* of
tnbal conflict Surely now \vc have got beyond all that, after
the lesson of the last war in which our fathers and our dtd&
brothers died * Science has given us new and enoraota
powers which may be used for destruction or for the advaaige
of human happiness How are we going to use them ? Shall
we destroy each other because of old and foolish feuda
because of national arrogance and pride, or shall we male
them the tools of a finer and nobler civilization ?

"I am a Frenchman I speak here among other French
men of my age I hold out rny hands to you young Germaas
to you Englishmen, in a spirit of comradeship, without aeny
sinister memones of ancient enmity, and plead with you to
forget the past, to think only of the future, to join in a forward
march towards a new era in which intelligence will tafe
ccmtrol and nations will obey a common law for the preserve
tioxi pf peace and the defence of justice Here, before yew
all* I pledge my soul to peace, for which I am ready te
suffer or die as men have died for war There is no